90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Wonderful posts, everyone!

Many people will experience interesting "states of mind" or sensations while meditating. Some of these will seem quite special, very pleasant (others, not so much). Regardless, when we have various meditative experiences, the old teachers always say this, about the experiences: "Not good... not bad." In other words, our practice is not about pursuing or hoping for certain things to happen, or about wanting to feel a certain way. It really isn't even about relaxation (Jon Kabat-Zinn says: "Meditation is not relaxation, spelled differently!" In fact, we may very well become quite relaxed, in our meditation practice... but that is not really the goal.

Especially in the beginning, meditation practice is mostly about training the mind (very much like training a puppy!) to pay attention, to stay alert, and to carefully observe a particular "object": usually, we choose the sensations of breathing as the "object." We are learning to have more choice, more freedom, about how our mind operates... and this helps tremendously when we encounter (as we often do) situations in which our mind wants to take us places to which it is not good for us to go (for example, cravings for alcohol, all kinds of negative thinking, and fearfulness)...

Deebs, probably sitting in a chair is going to work best for you. After a while, with some experimenting, we each find a posture that will let us sit still, in reasonably comfort, for 20 minutes (so that when we get up we are not saying "damn it hurts"!)...

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

OK, back on track, meditation buddies! I promised a post about walking meditation... so, here we go:

I was first introduced to walking meditation when I was a member of a Zen center. Typically, in Zen and other Buddhist-type meditation centers, the practice will be to do sitting meditation for fixed periods of time (usually 20-40 minutes), with periods of walking meditation (usually 10-40 minutes) in between.

Walking meditation, like sitting meditation, is done in silence. The object that we focus attention on is usually not the sensations of the breath, but the sensations we can observe in our feet as we walk. Usually, we will walk (fairly slowly) in a straight line, about 10 or 15 steps in one direction; then turn around slowly, and walk the same distance back in the other direction. Repeat. Throughout this time, we are (just like in sitting meditation) deliberately training our mind, our attention, to stay focused on the chosen object (in this case, the physical sensations in our feet, as we walk); and, when we find that our attention has wandered, we gently bring it back. Again... we when we re-focus, we do it gently... never harshly. If we notice ourselves being harsh, just take an observer stance... notice the harshness... and let it go, returning our focus to the chosen object. Gently... like training a puppy.

Some people find they are very drawn to walking meditation... others, not so much so. It's almost essential in long meditation retreats, because most of our bodies will not permit us to stay, sitting still, in any posture for more than 30 or 40 minutes... certainly not for hours; and in meditation retreats, the usual practice is to engage in meditation from early morning, to late evening or night!

[peacenik]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

thanks wip!
i didn't sit today, but will before bed...i have been busy, but did put mindfulness into practice throughout the day...
peace!

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Good going, Peace! How is everyone else doing? I hope you will check in, whether you are sitting every day, occasionally, or not at all! Those who are having trouble getting started, or being consistent: you are not alone! And this would be a good place to talk about strategies for overcoming hindrances!

My inspiration for this thread was the "90-Day Meditation Challenge" in Tricycle Magazine. (You can go back to the first post in this thread to see more information about that, including a link to the online program, how to sign up for it, and a lot more information and guidance; and you can CLICK HERE to go there, right now).

Two central parts of the program are: sitting meditation every day (which is what we have been talking about here on the thread, so far); and listening to podcasts, especially (in the Tricycle program) podcasts about a particular Buddhist text.

Some here may be very interested in the entire Tricycle program, and I encourage you to sign up, and listen to the podcasts as they are posted in the magazine's website; I will be doing that, and will post my own responses here... hoping that some of you will do that, too!

The first Tricycle podcast has been posted on their website; it is actually not about the text that is part of the "90-Day Challenge" (those will begin to be posted in about a week). This first one is a talk by the amazing meditation teacher, Sharon Salzberg. Among other things, Sharon is a founder of the Insight Meditation Society, which is a leader in teaching meditation in the United States, an extremely influential resource. She, along with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and several others, went to Asia 30 years ago, learned meditation from masters of various traditions, and came home to the United States to bring their practices here, for the benefit of all. Sharon, Jack, and Joe have written many excellent (and popular) books about meditation and compassion practices.

This first talk of Sharon's on the Tricycle website (and you can find the talks on iTunes, as well; just go to the iTunes listing of podcasts, and search for Tricycle) is about compassion meditation, also called "metta." One of our MWO members, Raggs, recently provided us with a post about compassion meditation; it is an ancient and very valuable practice. Along with other types of meditation practice, it is now being actively studied at major universities (for example, Emory University). The benefits of compassion meditation appear (based on these preliminary studies) to include a reduction in the body's inflammatory response (which is involved in many disease processes); and an increase in positive emotions within interpersonal encounters.

To read more about the 90-Day challenge, to sign up to get the podcasts, talks, and a lot of other resources: CLICK HERE!

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

The Truth About Suffering

The essence of the Buddha's message is contained in the Four Noble Truths. The first of these is the truth of suffering.... The Buddha declared that all our experiences of joy, indifference and pain are unsatisfactory. Are not even our greatest mundane pleasures tainted with dissatisfaction? When these pleasures pass away are we not left with unfulfilled longing and discontent? But in spite of this, we tend to cling to the pleasures of life, ignoring our transient nature....
The suffering we must recognize includes not only the kind we experience at the loss of a loved one, or when we lose our job for example, but also includes the more fundamental conditions of our human experience, namely, aging, sickness, and death.

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

ANOTHER DHARMA TALK OPTION:

I keep finding amazing stuff related to this meditation project, specifically concerning the work we are all here doing: learning to live with an alcohol dependence... without allowing it to be active, and to consume and destroy our lives.

One of the 5 fundamental Buddhist "precepts," or training guidelines, is to refrain from anything that clouds our consciousness (certainly, including alcohol). Many teachers spend time talking about this particular one of the 5 precepts, and others as well. This morning I noticed a talk given by a marvelous Zen teacher, Roshi Joan Halifax, about refraining from intoxicants. CLICK HERE to listen to her talk. That link will also lead you to her archive of many other recorded talks. You can find some wonderful (and very practical) wisdom in these talks!

p.s., here's the blurb from the website about this talk:

Roshi Joan Halifax gives this Dharma talk about the 5th Precept by focusing on the need to practice presencing each moment just as it is without needing to change anything including altering our mind state. She explores the truth of many substances and experiences which can toxify our capacity for embodying wisdom and compassion.

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

I haven't sat this weekend and find that time has just not been on my side.... it's funny how time consuming my small little family can be.

It is now late afternoon so I'm hoping for some "quiet time" as my family calls it.

I am really enjoying the pod casts -- very new for me, and I like hearing someone talk about it as opposed to just reading it.

[peacenik]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

im listening to joan halifax now...thanks....i too am enjoying the listening as opposed to reading. i think i feel like i'm being taught and it works better for my brain.

going to sit after i take my kid and friends sledding...

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Me too, Peace... I love listening to a good teacher doing what s/he does so well; a good teacher moves and inspires me, actually changes how I see things, and encourages me to do things I wouldn't otherwise do...

From time to time, as I run across some of these talks, the really good ones, I'll post them.

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

I really felt like I benefited from listening to those talks yesterday -- it seems to sink in easier with me?

I sat this morning, not for as long as I'd like. It was a dark and wet morning with the birds chirping away so i opened up the curtains and windows and just breathed.

Something that I wanted to ask Wip, will meditating help with concentration?

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Tricycle's Daily Dharma

Suffering is Not Inevitable

The First Noble Truth declares unflinchingly, straight out, that pain is inherent in life itself just because everything is changing. The Second Noble Truth explains that suffering is what happens when we struggle with whatever our life experience is rather than accepting and opening to our experience with wise and compassionate response. From this point of view, there's a big difference between pain and suffering. Pain is inevitable; lives come with pain. Suffering is not inevitable. If suffering is what happens when we struggle with our experience because of our inability to accept it, then suffering is an optional extra.
I misunderstood this when I started my practice and believed if I meditated hard enough I would be finished with all pain. That turned out to be a big mistake. I was disappointed when I discovered the error and embarrassed that I had been so na?ve. It's obvious we are not going to finish with pain in this lifetime.
The Buddha said, "Everything dear to us causes pain." Those of us who have chosen relational life have made the choice that the pain is worth it.

- Sylvia Boorstein, It's Easier Than You Think

[Sweaty Betty]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

Have just caught up with the thread. Am feeling a bit 'jittery' today, so will go back and read through the links and make a plan to start. Thanks to all that have posted and shared. x

[A Work in Progress]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

DeeBee;549658 wrote: Tricycle's Daily Dharma

Suffering is Not Inevitable

I misunderstood this when I started my practice and believed if I meditated hard enough I would be finished with all pain. That turned out to be a big mistake. I was disappointed when I discovered the error and embarrassed that I had been so na?ve. It's obvious we are not going to finish with pain in this lifetime.
The Buddha said, "Everything dear to us causes pain." Those of us who have chosen relational life have made the choice that the pain is worth it.

- Sylvia Boorstein, It's Easier Than You Think

This is a wonderful quote, Deebs. Thanks for bringing these to us every day!

This one, in particular: it is amazing how we humans try to avoid, deny, get rid of pain, how we are willing to deaden and anesthetize ourselves so we don't have to feel what every living being must feel, as part of being alive. "Relational life," caring about other humans and having them care about me... it is always going to hurt. My relationship with my own mother is incredibly painful (she has Alzheimer's, has been alcoholic all her life, and has always been paranoid and self-centered); when she moved from her home to near where I lived, because of her health problems... my drinking increased, and I felt myself building a wall, a shell, a hardness, to ward off the suffering that being around her brought to me. I hated it... the drinking, the hardening... but I didn't see any other options. I knew it would destroy me, in the end, if I kept it up... but I felt helpless.

I am so grateful that the day came when I had had enough. Letting go of the alcohol was the best thing I've ever done. It allows me to open up to pain without running away, without hardening my heart. Meditation and mindfulness in daily life are a huge part of that. I really can't have an effective meditation practice while getting drunk every night; nor can I face my fears, and let them fade away, the same way all things arise... then fade away.

Betty! Glad to see you here! I do hope anyone who is interested in meditation will feel welcome to jump in, do some reading and thinking about it, and participate as much or as little as you wish... and come back here, and tell us about it!

[DeeBee]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

"Everything dear to us causes pain" ... how true!

Peeling back those layers is emotionally draining and can leave me feeling very raw and confused but at least I am "feeling" now. No AL to numb, block or help me pretend.

Wip, I was thinking just the other day how is your Mother doing?

Hi Betty and Peace!!

[peacenik]

90-Day Meditation Practice Challenge!

hi kids!

i'm listening to the interview wip posted in her other thread...

last night i sat and listened to a guided meditation from audio darma...i wonder if i should try more sitting in quiet, but i feel like i still want to be guided...what say you gals?

while sitting last night i couldn't get a dog in my neighborhood out of my mind...he is really skinny and always out in the cold. i've tried to get help for him, even offered to take the dog, but he still suffers out in the cold and hungry.he is suffering, and wish i could take it away from him...i know i need to do more to help him...

anyway, have a good day all...

peace!